Chinese lanterns dazzle in ancient French town

Bringing the famous lanterns of Zigong, Sichuan, to the French town of Gaillac has paid off for the local mayor

As darkness falls each winter night in the little French town of Gaillac, the glow of dusk is replaced with another -- that of a thousand colourful Chinese silk lanterns.

The thousand-year-old town in the southwestern Tarn region, known for its wines, was not the most obvious place to launch what it trumpets as "the biggest Chinese event in France."

This year's festival in Gaillac has a "Silk Road" theme

But Gaillac happens to be twinned with Zigong, a city in China's Sichuan province which is famous for its lantern festival.

For the second winter running Gaillac has transformed into a miniature version of its Sichuan twin, lighting up nightly with a dazzling array of giant lanterns in the form of dragons, flowers, birds and pandas.

Among the delighted spectators was a 90-year-old who gave her name as Simone, taking photographs of the imperial palace stretching 75 metres (250 feet) long.

Some 250,000 people attended the Gaillac lantern festival last year

"I want to show my grandchildren all these wonders from another world," she said.

Gaillac's Mayor Patrice Gausserand was on a trip to China in February 2017 when the idea of twinning with a Chinese town was born.